Brony Trek
by OhMahChildhood
Summary: Data and two science team members are studying a new planet they've recently discovered called Equestria when Q decides to make things interesting for them.
1. Chapter 1

Brony Trek

Chapter One

Captain's Log, stardate 2445.5

We've come upon a planet which resembles Earth in many ways. Like Earth it is mostly covered by water and it has a variety of different enviroments from grassy plains to mountainous regions, a desert and even polar regions that are covered by ice and snow. For the past three months, Starfleet has had a scienctific survey team down on the surface, studying the equine-like sentient beings that live there. They are small creatures, no taller than a man's knee according to the survey team.

Data, fascinated as always by new life forms, stared out of the viewport in the duck blind that the survey team had set up not far from one of the larger towns they had discovered on this planet. The beings that lived there called it "Ponyville". Presently, one pony who he'd discovered was called Pinkie Pie came bouncing into view. She was one of his favorites..always bouncing around like a mad thing, a goofy grin on her face.

"Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched secretly and that the person watching you doesn't want you to know they're watching you but you know they're watching you a nd you know they know?" Pinkie gushed, the way she almost always did. Half the time what she said didn't make any sense to anybody but herself. Applejack tilted her head and pushed her straw hat back off her forehead with a forehoof.

"What in tarnation are you talking about?" she said, her voice drawling a bit.

"According to my Pinkie-sense, somebody's been watching us in seeecret!" Pinkie cooed, drawing out the last word as she tried to sound a bit spooky. Applejack stopped dead in her tracks.

"Now why on earth would somebody be watching us in secret?" she asked her friend and Pinkie Pie shrugged.  
>"Beats me." she said and walked forward..right into the duck blind, which was being hidden by a holographic generator. There was a clanging of metal and she bounced off, shaking her head.<br>"Ow. I didn't know air could be so solid." she muttered. Applejack walked up to where Pinkie Pie had just run into an invisible something. She tapped the air with her hoof, making the same metallic clanging sound that Pinkie's head made when she ran into the..whatever it was.

"There's something there, alright. You didn't just run into solid air, Pinkie. I dunno what it is, but whatever it is ain't don't you come with me and we'll go get Twilight. She'll figure this out." the orange-furred pony instructed her bright pink friend. Pinkie Pie nodded, rubbing the sore spot on her head. "I hope she can figure this out because I sure can't." the pink furred pony grumbled.

"That is not a desirable outcome.."muttered Data, who'd physically recoiled when Pinkie ran into the duck blind's wall, even know he knew she couldn't see him. He knew that the unicorn ponies and the ones they called alicorns (who seemed to posess all qualities of all three species and were perhaps some kind of hybrid) posessed some kind of ability that seemed like magic. If she turned her magic on the duck blind, it was entirely possible that Twilight Sparkle would uncover their operation and ruin the whole thing.

"Well, well, well..what have we here?" crooned a familiar voice. Data spun on his chair to see Q standing behind him, grinning. The other two members of the science team groaned..this was the last thing they needed right now.

"We have been studying these equine beings and now, it seems as if they are on the verge of discovering our secret operation." Data informed him.

"Equines? You mean ponies, Data. Why must you always be soooo pedantic?" Q groaned, rolling his eyes. He slid into a chair next to the android, his chin resting in one hand, a devilish look on his face. "I could fix this little problem for you, you know. With one flourish of my hand, I could make you ALL ponies. That way you could study them without having to resort to this...mess." he said, indicating the machinery and equipment with a wave of his hand.

Data started to open his mouth, but closed it quickly. Sometimes it was better to say nothing at all, especially where Q was concerned. Q stared at him.

"Well..I'm waiting." he said, tapping his foot impatiently.

"It might not be such a bad idea..."suggested Moskevitz, a tall, lanky ensign with pale skin and a short shock of curly dark hair.

"Done!" cried Q happily and with a snap of his fingers, the duck blind had vanished and all three members of the Enterprise crew had been transformed into ponies very much like the ones they'd been studying. Data turned in a circle,trying to get a good look at his new form. He was covered in snow white fur and like the ponies he'd been studying he had what they called a "cutie mark" on his flanks. It looked a lot like a floppy disc, the kind they'd used on Earth in the late 1980s. He tossed his head, because his long, jet black mane had fallen into his face. The other two members of the team..Moskevitz and S'Jenes had been transformed as well. Moskevitz had been transformed into a pegasus with pale gold fur and a long, wavy mane of a brown so dark it was almost black. Upon her flank was a dark outline that resembled a mouse, seen in shadow. She flapped her wings experimentally, rising off the ground a few inches. "Wicked.."she whispered, grinning at her new found ability. The third member of the team was a Vulcan named S'Jenes and he found he'd been transformed into a pale silver unicorn with reddish gold hair and pale green eyes. On S'Jene's flank was the image of a microscope. "Interesting.." S'Jenes commented upon being informed of the form his cutie mark had taken. But before they could discuss a plan of action, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle were returning.

"Uh..howdy. Did y'all see anything unusual around here? Maybe run into something that wasn't there?" Applejack asked them. S'Jenes and Moskevitz shook their heads.

"No..we have not." Data replied, his voice sounding oddly wooden to Applejack's ears.

"You guys weren't here before. Did you just come out of nowhere or maybe fall out of the sky or oooh did you rise up out of the ground like zooooommmmbiiies?" Pinkie said, lurching at them with a spastic giggle. Data stepped back a few paces.

"My name is Lieu..er..Data. We are..new in town." he explained hastily. S'Jenes and Moskevitz nodded. "Do you know of an in where we might stay the night? We are in need of lodging."

"Well, y'all could always stay at the Golden Horseshoe..they always got room." Applejack said with a smile. "Name's Applejack and this here's Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie." she said, introducing her friends. "Nice to meet you, Lew Data."

"Please, just call me Data. This is Moskevitz and S'Jenes. I would be pleased if you would show us the location of this Golden Horseshoe." Data said with a courteous nod of his head.

"Go on, Applejack..you and PInkie show them where they need to go. I'm going to work on this problem of the solid air you told me about. "Twilight said, the tip of her horn beginning to glow. She had a feeling this was going to be quite a thorny problem to solve, but she liked tough problems.


	2. Chapter 2

BronyTrek pt 2

Upon arriving at the Golden Horseshoe Inn, another problem presented itself, this time one of currency. Currency that the Enterprise away team, who'd never expected to need it in the first place, lacked.

"Well you can't stay here, not unless you can pay." huffed the propierteress, a thin, long legged mare named Customer Service. Data looked perplexed as he tried to quickly figure out what to do.

"I have an idea..I'll spot y'all tonight and tomorrow, you can come work on my apple farm to work off your debt." suggested Applejack and Data nodded.

"That would be acceptable. One room please." he said, turning back to Customer Service. She showed them to a room on the second floor..not a good room but not a bad room either. Data thanked her and the away team went inside to discuss what their strategy was going to be.

"Having fun?" asked a familiar voice. In a puff of smoke, a creature appeared, lounging on one of the beds. It had a spiralled horn on one side of it's head, on the other something that resembled an antler. The body seemed to be a mishmash of different creatures-lion, serpent, pony. But the voice was unmistakable: Q.

Data blinked. "Q." he said simply and the creature slithered to the floor, landing near Data's feet as he propped his head on his hand, his elbow resting on the floor.

"Here they call me Discord...they think I'm an evil spirit or something." Q giggled.

"Discord is an appropriate name...seeing as that's all you ever do." Moskevitz growled softly. Discord/Q shook his head and made a tut-tut noise.

"Now come on Moskevitz...a little while ago you were quite happy to be turned into ponies. I was only doing what you wished." Discord/Q said in a wheedling, almost whining, tone. Moskevitz started to cross her arms..then fell over on her ace as she realized she could no longer do so unless he was already sittting down. How irritating, he couldn't help but think. S'Jene raised one thin, slightly pointy eyebrow.

"The question isn't whether we are happy at being turned into ponies. The question is what will it take to convince you to turn us back. We cannot, at present, contact our crew because . you have taken both our uniforms and our comm badges. You almost always ask for some kind of 'payment' in order to get what you want. Therefore it is only logical to assume you want us to do something for you and when we do it, you will return us to our natural forms as well as give us back our clothing and comm badges." S'Jenes said, summing up the situation logically.

"Quite right, my little Vulcan." Q/Discord tweaked S'Jenes nose, leaving him looking insulted. "You have three days..three days from this moment right here...to figure out why I turned you into ponies. Because I had a reason and it's a good one. Ooh it is EVER so much a good reason." Q/Discord was giggling and rubbing his fore limbs together (one ended in a lion's paw, the other in eagle-like talons).

"Will you give us any clues to help us figure out why you have done this to us?" Data asked and Q/Discord shook his head.

"Nope. That would make it all too easy for you to figure out the answer, my dear walking pile of circuitry." Q/Discord cooed, stroking Data's cheek with his large golden, lion-like paw.

"But I am more than.." Data started to say, then blinked. He wasn't a pile of circuits, tubes and wires anymore. He was flesh and blood, oddly enough. He almost couldn't stop himself from leaning into the alien touch of Discord's forepaw on his face. He found that he craved touch..from Discord, from the other team members, from ANYBODY. Whoa. He'd have to store that sensation for later, so he could analyze it further.

"Have fun, kiddies!" Discord/Q chuckled as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke that left them all choking and coughing on it. S'Jenes let out a very un-Vulcan like snort of irritation. If he didn't tell them what they were looking for, how on earth could they be expected to find it, he wondered to himself.

Moskevitz drew one hoof across her eye, trying to keep it from watering after the smoke had gotten into it. Or at least that's what she told herself. The situation seemed hopeless and while she liked and admired both S'Jenes and Commander Data, she didn't have faith that they would be able to pull themselves out of this mess. The beings on this planet had chosen well when they decided to call Q "Discord". Everywhere he went, every time he appeared to the Enterprise crew, he caused havoc and discord wherever he went on the ship. This time it was no different..he was playing with them like they were mechanical wind up toys to go or stop at his pleasure. Typical Q behavior.


	3. Chapter 3

Brony trek Chapter 3

Twilight Sparkle had an entire stack of books on magic in front of her, but there was nothing in any of them about 'solid air'. She groaned in frustration. Spike, who'd been dozing in his basket surrounded by a small cache of jewels, rubbed his eyes.

"C'mon Twilight..you need to get some rest. You're never gonna figure out the answer to this puzzle if you're tired out." he yawned. Twilight nodded, closing the book in front of her.

"I guess you're right, Spike." she said, using her magic to slide the book back onto the shelf. She turned extinguished the lights and dragged herself upstairs to bed. As she snuggled in her warm blankets, she couldn't help but wonder how on earth she was going to figure out this mystery.

At the Golden Horseshoe, Data, Moskevitz and S'Jenes talked long into the night about the problem Discord/Q had given them. What exactly where the advantages and disadvantages of being a pony in a backwards, technnologically unsophisticated world as opposed to being humanoids that spent most of their lives roaming the galaxies in search of new life, new ideas and new adventures? After a few hours of talking about it, debating the pros and cons, they were still no closer to an answer than they had been at the beginning. Data extinguished the lamps that lined the walls and settled in for the night. He listened to S'Jenes and Moskevitz slowly drift off to sleep while he lay there, contemplating their problem further. It seemed that even though he was in pony form, he was still very much an android so he didn't need to sleep the way the flesh and blood people-turned-ponies did.

Twilight thrashed in her sleep, kicking the blankets off and disturbing Spike who merely turned over, grumbled a bit and went back to sleep. After a time, she woke up and went downstairs to pace, so she wouldn't wake up Spike who was sleeping in a basket near the foot of her bed. "I've got to figure this thing out..and I bet whatever it is..Discord has a hoof..or paw..or whatever in it." she muttered to herself. There was a soft giggle and the pale purple alicorn turned around, her eyes wide. "I..is someone there?" she asked, a light emanating from the tip of her horn to illuminate the shadows.

"I'm here..." Discord/Q giggled and he poofed into being right in front of her, sprawled on the floor with one arm bent so that he could support his head with the paw on the end of it. "Hello, my dear Twilight..."he smiled. Twilight gritted her teeth and closed her eyes for a moment, willing herself not to start screaming at him.

"You're probably wondering why I'm here. You see..I'm here to help you out, my dear little alicorn. You're wondering where on earth those strange ponies came from and what is the DEAL with that chunk of solid air that poor Pinkie PIe knocked herself senseless on. Aren't you?" he asked and Twilight abruptly sat down.

"Well..yes. To all of it." she said, fluffing out her wings and then tucking them up against her body again. "But really..the strange ponies could have come from anywhere...Appleana, Appleloosa, Fillydelphia, Manehattan, maybe even Hoofington or Trottingham. I'm pretty sure they're not from Canterlot..they don't look sophisticated enough. The real problem here is the solid air. Air just can't be..solid. It doesn't work that way!" Twilight said, getting to her feet again as she began to pace around Discord. Discorn gave her a sympathetic look.

"Maybe it does..not here, naturally. But perhaps..in another place. Another world." he said casually, inspecting the some what tattered looking tip of the goat's hoof on the foreleg he wasn't leaning on. Twilight stopped her pacing and her head snapped up, her wings opening.

"Another place? You mean like when I traveled through Celestia's mirror to get my crown back from Sunset Shimmer?" she asked. Discord nodded.

"Sort of." he said with a shrug.

"So..these ponies..the new ones staying over at the Golden Horseshoe are from..another place. Another world, maybe? And in their world, air can be solid. So..ok. But why are they here?" she asked, tilting her head. Discord sat up, curled his paw into a fist with one toe extended. He shook it at her.

"Uh uh uh. It's YOUR job to find that out. I just gave you a little..nudge..in the right direction." he conceded. "Goodnight..my little Twilight.."he whispered before disappearing with a poof of smoke. Twilight coughed on the smoke, waving a hoof to disperse it. She sighed..he was being so mysterious. But then again..that was pretty typical of Discord, as she had learned. She trotted back upstairs and got settled in bed again.

"Tomorrow..I am going to find out where you come from." she vowed to herself as she yawned, her eyes closing with exhaustion.


End file.
